Who are the La Hu and how did their name originate?
La Hu is the self-designated name of this ethnic group and is also the official name used in the list of Vietnam's ethnic groups. In ethnographic literature, the La Hu are also known by other names such as Xa la vang, Co Xung, Khu Sung, Kha Quy, Co So, and Ne Thu. According to the list of Vietnamese ethnic groups published by the Government Portal, other names for the La Hu include Khu Sung (Co Sung), Kha Quy (Xa Quy), Xa Toong Luong (Xa La Vang), and Xa Puoi, with their recognized area of residence being Lai Chau.
The common explanation for the name Xa la vang (Yellow Leaf Xa) is tied to their former dwelling habits. The La Hu often built houses and huts scattered on upland fields and high mountains. Their roofs were thatched with leaves, and when the leaves turned yellow they would move elsewhere, hence the name Yellow Leaf Xa. This is an example showing that the names of many ethnic groups in the northern mountainous region often derive from ecological features and lifestyle rather than from a specific historical event.
It is important to distinguish clearly: La Hu na (black), La Hu su (yellow) and La Hu phung (white) are local subgroups within the La Hu ethnic group, not three separate ethnic groups. This division is similar to many other ethnic groups in Vietnam, where clothing colors or traditional names become a form of internal identification.
Where do the La Hu live and how many are there today?
According to the April 1, 2019 survey of 53 ethnic minorities conducted by the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and the General Statistics Office, the La Hu population is 12,113. Previously, according to the 2009 Population and Housing Census, the figure was 9,651. This increase reflects both natural growth and changes in ethnic statistical work.
In terms of territory, the La Hu live mainly in Muong Te district, Lai Chau province. In the past they often built houses and huts scattered on upland fields and high mountains in Pa U and Pa Ve Su communes. Today, many villages have settled permanently, and common housing is single-story houses or rammed-earth or plank-walled houses. The scene of Nam Xa village, Bum To commune, Muong Te district is an example of the current settlement pattern.
One notable architectural feature: the kitchen, worship area and family sleeping platform are always in the same room. This arrangement reflects the concept of closeness between daily life and worship space, unlike many ethnic groups that have a separate ancestor altar room or worship chamber.
Which language family does the La Hu language belong to?
La Hu belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language group, within the Sino-Tibetan family, and according to the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, La Hu is closer to Burmese. This is an important detail, because the Tibeto-Burman group in Vietnam also includes ethnic groups such as Ha Nhi, Phu La, Lo Lo, Cong, and Si La, and linguistic classification helps visualize the network of historical relations between communities.
In the past the La Hu had no writing system of their own. Today students learn the national script. The La Hu use an oral calendar dividing the year into 12 months, each corresponding to an animal, similar to naming months after animals in many agricultural cultures.
The La Hu are also noted for knowing many medicinal plants in the forest. Notably, this knowledge is wrapped in ritual: each time they plan to gather medicine, they keep silent for the whole session without speaking to anyone, quietly entering the forest without letting others know. This practice is both religious in nature and functions to protect trade secrets.
What is special about La Hu worship customs?
The La Hu worship ancestors, parents and deceased relatives on specific occasions: the new rice festival, the seventh-month Tet, after sowing upland rice, at weddings and at funerals. A notable point is that they have no custom of worshiping on a separate death anniversary. This is a significant difference from many other ethnic groups in Vietnam, where the death anniversary is the central occasion of worship.
Offerings to ancestors are recorded as unique: rice wrapped in forest leaves. The simplicity of the offerings goes together with organizing worship according to seasons and community occasions, rather than according to the individual calendar of each deceased person.
Alongside ancestor worship, the La Hu have a concept of life and death determined by heaven. In heaven there are two houses: na de (house of illness) and xo de (house of death). If a person's soul reaches xo de, they will certainly die. If the soul reaches na de, a ritual must be performed to ask the soul to return so the person can live longer. People believe each person only lives within a set lifespan from birth, but can also live beyond that limit if the di cha ritual is held. Divination to find the cause of fate is part of this system.
These practices should be presented as a cultural belief system, without asserting their efficacy and without denying them. This is the appropriate approach when studying the spiritual life of a community.
Main festivals and Tet occasions of the La Hu
The important occasion clearly recorded in sources is the new rice Tet, which takes place at the beginning of the tenth or eleventh month. A special point: although they are a gathering people, during the new rice Tet they abstain for 3 days from gathering vegetables, collecting firewood, cutting trees, and clearing grass in the forest to pray for good plants all year round. This is a type of ritual abstinence aimed at restoring a harmonious relationship between the community and the forest.
Besides the new rice Tet, the seventh-month Tet is also an occasion for ancestor worship. During festivals, the La Hu often use drums to keep rhythm in the xoe dance. La Hu drums are hollowed from a section of tree trunk and covered with wild animal skin such as deer, roe deer, or gaur. The Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs source notes a similarity with Ha Nhi drums in crafting technique.
In terms of music, the La Hu enjoy listening to and are skilled at using the khen. Children gather around fires near houses and by streams, playing, singing, and tapping wood for rhythm.
Marriage, childbirth and funerals according to La Hu custom
Regarding marriage, La Hu boys and girls are allowed to freely love when they reach marriageable age. The wedding is conducted through many steps, in which the offerings brought by the groom's family to the bride's family must include squirrel meat. After the wedding, the bride resides with her husband. However, the custom of living with the bride's family still exists for young men who cannot afford enough wedding gifts, especially white silver.
Regarding childbirth, La Hu women are allowed to give birth in their own room with the help of their mother-in-law or sisters. Three days after birth, a naming ceremony is held for the child. Newborn names are usually given according to the day of birth, so duplicate names in the community are quite common. If a child is slow to grow or often ill, the family may hold a ceremony to change the name.
Regarding funerals, when someone in the house dies, people fire guns to drive away evil spirits and notify relatives and villagers. The coffin is usually a split log, hollowed out in both halves. The day and time of burial are carefully chosen. The La Hu have no fixed cemetery. The mourning period for children toward parents is three years, but there is no special mark on clothing or hair.
Clothing and economic life
The La Hu have no tradition of growing cotton. In the past, women often traded wild animal meat, shiitake mushrooms, opium and precious forest products for cloth from other ethnic groups, or exchanged for cotton to weave themselves. Women wear long clothes, wearing two layers of shirts: an inner long-sleeved shirt buttoned under the right arm; an outer short-sleeved shirt buttoned at the chest. On ordinary days they wear only the long shirt, on festivals they wear the short shirt outside. La Hu women's clothing has many colored thread tassels on scarves, many coins on shirts, and sleeve seams joined with various colored fabrics.
Children's hats do not distinguish boys from girls, all are decorated with many silver coins and colored threads. Children's hats are related to souls, so the La Hu often abstain from giving away or selling their children's hats.
Economically, the La Hu mainly practice shifting cultivation with a high rotation rate. Recently they have gradually shifted to growing rice on terraced fields. The La Hu are famous for basketry (rice trays, rattan chairs) and blacksmithing. Hunting, fishing and gathering play a particularly important role in economic life. In terms of diet, they have shifted from eating corn and sticky rice to mainly white rice, and they enjoy eating meat from hunted birds and animals, fish caught in streams, sour bamboo shoots, bean soup, and gourds.
The familiar means of transport is a basket woven from rattan and bamboo, with two shoulder straps, suitable for very steep terrain. Women often carry children on their backs when going to work.
Social relations and clan organization
The La Hu live scattered in many small hamlets with a population that changes frequently due to shifting cultivation. Society has not yet stratified into rich and poor. Women are respected in the family, but have few social roles.
Clan relations are recorded as loose, with no clan head and no worship rituals for the whole clan. Some clans bear names of birds and animals, but many others no longer have anyone who remembers the meaning. This is a difference from many ethnic groups with tight clan organization and common rituals.
Summary table of basic information about the La Hu people
| Criterion | Information |
|---|---|
| Self-designated name | La Hu |
| Other names | Xa la vang, Co Xung, Khu Sung, Kha Quy, Co So, Ne Thu, Xa Toong Luong, Xa Puoi |
| Local subgroups | La Hu na (black), La Hu su (yellow), La Hu phung (white) |
| Population | 12,113 (2019 survey of 53 ethnic minorities); 9,651 (2009 census) |
| Language | Tibeto-Burman group, Sino-Tibetan family, closer to Burmese |
| Area of residence | Mainly Muong Te district, Lai Chau province (formerly concentrated in Pa U and Pa Ve Su communes) |
| Main occupations | Shifting cultivation, gradually shifting to terraced fields; basketry, blacksmithing; hunting, gathering |
| Worship | Ancestors, parents, deceased relatives; offerings are rice wrapped in forest leaves; no death anniversary worship |
| Worship occasions | New rice, seventh-month Tet, after sowing upland rice, weddings, funerals |
| Main festivals | New rice Tet (early tenth or eleventh month), seventh-month Tet |
| Musical instruments | Khen, drum (hollowed from tree trunk, covered with wild animal skin) |
Points to note when learning about the La Hu
First, different population figures between survey times are normal. When citing, the year and source should be clearly stated to avoid confusion.
Second, many names such as Xa la vang and Khu Sung are external designations that may carry different connotations in each historical context. The current official and neutral designation is La Hu, according to the list of Vietnamese ethnic groups.
Third, descriptions of customs in sources from the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and ethnographic pages are often based on field notes in specific areas. They should not be automatically generalized to the entire La Hu community at all times. This is a general principle when studying ethnic culture.
Fourth, many customs are changing rapidly due to settled cultivation, more convenient transportation, and access to education and healthcare. Describing a custom is recording a cultural state at the time of the source, not asserting that the custom is immutable.
